Because when you put a sign up next to a freeway, people will read it until somebody takes it down.

.
Send pictures to freewayblogger -AT- yahoo.com

Saturday, August 25, 2007

I-880 Oakland

I really like this picture. I like the kid, the Caltrans truck and the fact that the sign above them has stayed up for over three days now, seen by damn near everybody travelling south on the 880 through Oakland: the better part of 100,000 people per day. (880/High Street)

I have no idea how many people actually saw it, how much it mattered to them, or what, if anything, it accomplishes. But I do know this, it was damn easy to pull off. All I had to do was paint the sign, walk onto the overpass, and place it in between the handrail and the fencing. Because of that, a couple hundred thousand people saw protest where they otherwise would've seen nothing.

I used a different overpass for the northbound traffic:

I like putting small signs on really large overpasses. Everybody still reads them, but there's far less incentive to take them down. It's one thing to go out of your way to get rid of some great big in-your-face banner, and quite another to do the same for a tiny bit of cardboard. Either way, the message gets out.